Keeping a promise
by coffin dancer
Summary: Seth and the gang go south for the weekend. Will it all end in tragedy?
1. Goodbye

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from the OC...not even my beloved Seth.**

**A/n: This is a**** series of scenes. Piece them together as you like. There's a bit of a music and poetry connection here. Read between the lines and fine what it's all about!  
Sorry about the spelling and locations of some things; I live in Oz!!**

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"See ya, mom. We'll be back on Monday!"

It was the start of the summer holidays; Ryan, Marissa, Summer and Seth were heading down to Dana Point for one whole _weekend_ of sun, surf, fishing, love and best of all, _no parents_!!

He loaded the eskys in the back of the four-wheel-drive, then turned around and kissed his mother on the cheek.

"And don't _worry_, okay? We'll be fine." He added with a little smirk. "What trouble can a bunch of sixteen-year-olds get into anyway?"

Kirsten Cohen bit her bottom lip anxiously. It wasn't that she didn't trust him; she didn't know him enough _not_ to trust him. It was more that...

Sandy's arm gripped her shoulder. "Honey, don't worry. He knows to call if he's in trouble. Now all we have to do is spend the whole weekend worrying." He smiled and lifted his hand to shield his eyes against the early morning sun.

Seth couldn't believe it. Away from everything; school, family, work...all for two days in which he'd be doing everything he loved. If he died on Monday he knew he'd die content.

The horn beeped loud behind him. "Coh-en, hurry up! I wanna get there some time today!"

Seth smiled at her and turned back to his parents. "Yes, I know to call if I'm in trouble, I know to keep my hands off Summer--" he shot a pointed look at his dad. "—and I know you are going to call me every ten minutes." Kirsten shut her mouth slowly.

* * *

"_So everybody put your best suit or dress on, let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once...lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn as thirty dialogues bleed into one..._"

"Eww, Seth, how can you like this...music?" Summer pulled a face of pained disgust at him.

"It's _Death Cab for Cutie_! They are one of the greatest bands alive, Summer."

"Coop, what do you think?" Summer said, looking for allies.

"_Death Cab_'s gotta been one of my faves, Summ, sorry." Marissa called from the back seat.

"Pssh." She reached down and switched off the stereo. "Lets talk, Cohen. We never do that anymore."

"But we do other interesting stuff..." He couldn't help but smile to remember their last encounter together...

_I love you Cohen..._

"But that's not _talking_, Seth. Most couples do a little bit of talking now and then."

He sighed. Summer was great but they only connected on a physical level. Sometimes he missed Anna for someone he could really talk to without feeling like an idiot.

"Okay, lets talk."

Summer sat quiet for a second, her brows knitted together as she tried to think of something, anything, that they both shared.

* * *

"_Come, as you are, as you were, as I want you to be. As a friend, as a friend, as an old enemy..._"

A knock at the door.

"Ryan? Sorry...can – can we talk?"

Seth stood in the door frame, the pale light from the hallway making him seem like a shadow.

"Sure. What's going on?" Ryan paused as he pulled off his headphones. "Is this about Summer?"

"Where's Marissa?" Seth always went to Ryan for advice. "Coz, you know man, I just want--"

"She's with Summer." He said shortly.

Another fight, thought Seth.

"I...just...we've been getting kind of...close lately....Summer and me." He took a breath, swallowed his nervousness. It's _Ryan_ you're talking to, he reminded himself. He's the been there, done that guy.

"You're gunna go for it man? And you came to tell me. Um okay, I'm happy for you man but..."

"I just need some, you know, advice. Come on, Ryan."

Ryan looked at him from the corner of his eyes. Finally he sighed. "Okay, what do you want to know...?"

* * *

He pulled her closer. "Summer, we've been together for a while now...I – I love you."

Summer's brown eyes stared into his. "Me too, Cohen."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked as they tumbled onto the bed.

"Yes..."

........_Your very features_

_Love defined_

_Your very thoughts_

_They fill my mind_

_My heart it beats_

_In time with thine_

_The whole world crumbles_

_You'll still be mine..._....

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To be continued. chapter two: Has Seth done something he regrets?


	2. Thoughts and Realisations

**Disclaimer: I dont own the characters from the OC. Isn't it AWFUL!! I wish I did but I don't...**

**A/n: Thanks to those who reviewed. Keep it up!! Do you think the characters I show are like the one's on TV??? Please review and answer!!**

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'_Wake up every day that would be a start, I would not complain about my wounded heart...'_

Seth stumbled into the kitchen, bleary eyed, aching head.

He should have been happy but he knew he wasn't.

"Morning, sunshine." Marissa said coyly. She was sitting in her pajamas at the center table, sipping an orange juice as watching him closely.

"Morning..." He rubbed his eyes. "Where's Ryan?"

Her eyes went cold. "I don't know."

"Okay, so what's up, Marissa? Oliver's gone...you guys're fine."

She looked down into her cornflakes. "Seth, I don't want to talk about it."

Marissa always did that lately. The mention of Oliver's name shut her down completely. She retreated into her own world of memories, thoughts and words. She didn't talk anymore.

He felt arms around his waist. "Hey, Coh-en."

Another false smile, another string of meaningless lies.

He knew he didn't love her as much as he said, but what could he do? He didn't want to hurt her and he didn't want to be alone...

Keeping up the impression he had given all those months ago; that he had loved her since he first saw her.

_If I was a mermaid...._

But times had changed, he had changed and _that_ had changed.

"Hi, Summer."

"Hey Coop, wanna go down to the beach today and get a tan?"

"Sure Summ. Do you want some breakfast first?"

"Eugh, _cornflakes_? You _know_ the corn is like, two months old, Coop? It's really gross!"

So normal, so content. So unaware.

Seth felt like there was a huge lump in his throat and the weight of a million lies in his stomach.

"And what are _you_ going to do today, Cohen?" Summer's eyes sparkled when she looked at him.

"Um...I was gunna go for a – sail or a fish...something...by myself?" He said it as a question and he supposed that it was.

Asking if it was okay for him to feel this way.

"Ooh, sounds like fun! For you. Okay, well Coop, I'm gunna go get changed..." She walked past him to the doorway, stopping to pinch his bum on the way through. "...and I'll meet you down here in ten!"

Seth wandered outside slowly. Perhaps he'd see what Ryan was up to?

But fishing seemed like the thing to do today; it'd give him a reason to be by himself, to think about it all.

And it was also something that would occupy him a bit so that he didn't get too deep...

* * *

'_All that time I was searching, with nowhere to run to, it started me thinking,_

_Wondering what I could make of my life, and who'd be waiting,_

_Asking all kinds of questions, to myself, but never finding the answers,_

_Crying at the top of my voice, and no one listening,_

_All this time, I still remember everything you said_

_There's so much you promised, how could I ever forget?'_

The Saturday morning of his Best Weekend Ever plan was the start of the worst weekend ever for Seth Cohen.

He sat on the rocks at the edge of the beach, casually glancing over at Marissa and Summer while still managing to concentrate on the fishing line dangling below the water.

White fluffy clouds leaked out of the blue horizon; the sun shone on his neck and back making his sleepy.

He shoved his fishing rod into the sand and lay back upon the smooth rocks.

And it hit him.

He didn't love Summer. He loved..._her_.

She'd been there since before he could remember, no near but yet so far away.

She was cool, she was beautiful. And in the strangest of circumstances they had been brought together...

She was always there, like a shadow in his mind. Her presence made him feel like jelly...but still he could be himself around her because he felt no desire to be anyone else.

He shook his head. Why was he thinking like this? He wasn't a deep and meaningful kind of guy.

He was there for comic relief; the funny, witty, charming guy.

But he was the guy who didn't have feelings; he couldn't afford to have them when he lived in a house with Kirsten...and Ryan. Such dominant yet emotionally fragile people.

Except his dad of course. Sandy Cohen had been close to breakdown a couple of times, but had never let on to anyone, not even his wife.

Seth had to be the strong one. He feared that if he went to pieces his family would go down with him.

But his thoughts for a second lingered on her. Summer, and the things she said.

_I love you Cohen.  
You're so funny, Cohen.  
How can you_ like_ that stuff, Cohen?  
Cohen, Cohen, __Cohen..._

He shot a frustrated glance over to the beach where the two girls lay.

One, his love. The other, his lover.

* * *

_Sun is shining, the weather is sweet, yeah_

_Make you wanna move your dancing feet now_

_To the rescue, here I am_

_Want you to know, y'all, can you understand?_

"What do you think he's thinking?" Summer asked Marissa. She spoke of Seth as if he were God, with the same reverence in her tone.

"Well, I dunno Summ. I think he's thinking that he finally got you."

Summer raised an eyebrow at her friend. "_Got_ me? No one _gets_ Summer Roberts, she chooses _you_." She added in a self-admiring flick of her hair, giggling like a little girl. "But yeah, Seth's really got me hooked. It's _awesome_!"

"Well I'm happy for you Summ." Marissa tried to sound genuine but she couldn't help the bitterness coming through. It wasn't that she was selfish; she just missed having the same connection with Ryan that Seth and Summer now had...

"What's up Coop?"

Marissa thought for a second. She decided that it really was just..."It's Ryan. He's being really distant lately. He keeps talking about his family and Chino...and _Theresa_. I'm getting a little bit worried. What if life's too perfect for him here, and he misses all the bad shit he could do in Chino?...Or what if life isn't perfect enough?"

She lay back on her towel in silent thought.

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